Bulletproof
by headfirstfrhalos
Summary: Cassandra Hamada knows that strength is not found in solitude. She doesn't listen to herself. (Centers on Aunt Cass. Canon divergence beginning at the explosion at SFIT. Multichapter.)
1. Bulletproof

**A.N.: I never really see a lot of fics with a heavy focus on Aunt Cass, and so I wanted to fix that. (This is an AU where Hiro runs after Tadashi in the fire and both Hamada bros get blown to bits.) **

* * *

Cassandra Hamada was a woman of independence and undeniable emotional strength. Tragedy struck her left and right, but she took it all with a brave face and maybe a donut or two. Everyone who saw her believed that she was invincible. It seemed true. She lived life on her own terms, running a successful business all on her own and raising two young boys with no former experience. Her younger, shyer sister saw her as an outgoing, confident hero, able to do and fix anything she wanted. Her high school voted her as 'Most Dependable'. Critics and customers of the Lucky Cat Cafe claimed that her character was 'as reliable as her service'.

But we all fall down. The news came to Cass when a somber policeman walked into the cafe, bowing his head and holding his hat in his hands. Cass cut off her conversation with Fred when he cleared his throat.

"Are you the mother of Tadashi and Hiro Hamada?" He asked.

"Their aunt, actually, but I'm taking care of them. Is something wrong? They were supposed be back home by now."

The man swallowed heavily before speaking. Worry began to tie knots in her stomach.

"There was a fire and an explosion at the auditorium at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Your nephews were last seen in front of the burning building."

The whole group went silent. The knots braided her intestines.

"Are they- are they alright?" Honey Lemon asked.

"They both went into the building, Tadashi first and his brother following. The building exploded a few seconds later. We haven't found any remains...yet. Just a hat and a jacket at the bottom of the stairs. We think the elder ran in to save a teacher, and the younger one followed him," he shook his head sadly as he finished his statement.

"Wait...no..."

Blood rushed away from her head as she fell in a dead faint.

Two full, closed coffins for two charred brothers were laid side by side in the bare, open earth. A framed photo was off to the right, depicting the professor Tadashi had tried to save, the one who didn't have a casket because he had been turned to dust. Small tealight candles and glowing incense did little to penetrate the fog. Cass saw people much younger than her collapse to the ground in tears as their bodies shook. She helped them up and wiped away their tears while she tried to blink back her own. A withered priest muttered final blessings and benedictions as soil ws tossed over three empty caskets. A sudden downpour quickly extinguished the candles. Umbrellas spared the mourners from the rain as they walked way from the freshly-turned earth.

Cass drove home in silence, Tadashi's friends trailing behind her in Wasabi's van. The hills were waterlogged and the cafe was dark and empty when she turned the key. Bright lights flicked on, making the room seem to have a more cheerful attitude than it actually did.

People filed in one by one, quietly conversing as the storm pounded on the windows. She made small talk with all of them, purposefully avoiding the subject that crushed her every time she thought of it. No one said anything about her attempts or tried tried to talk about it. They knew. The day went on. No one noticed the evening approaching until the already-invisible sun let go of its final hold of the sky, letting darkness enclose the city. One by one, the guests left the Lucky Cat.

She was finally alone. For the first time in years, she didn't reach for the refrigerator. Food couldn't solve anything this time. She grabbed Mochi and curled up on the couch, letting her cat's warmth and soft breathing soothe her. A tear welled and slid down her cheek, but she didn't wipe it away or hide it like she did all the others before it. This one fell, warm and fat, into her lap. The fabric of her clothing let the droplet rest over the threads for a moment before soaking it up and turning it into a dark spot on her thigh. It was just one tear, but it held worlds more than it seemed.

She had refused to weep in front of anyone else for such a long time, saving the tears for when she was all alone. She never cried in front of anyone, especially her sister. She had to be strong for her little sister, and crying didn't set a good example. It was how she proved to herself that she was stronger, that she could be the hands to carry when their parents had no arms. As a result, Jasmine Hamada never saw Cass upset.

She remembered seeing her parents passed out on the couch by three, reeking of alcohol and ignoring Jasmine as she shook their shoulders and demanded they wake up. She remembered burning her small hands on the stove when she tried to make dinner by herself, remembered walking Jasmine home when they were younger and shaking with worry when she moved on to middle school, where Cass couldn't watch over her little sister like she always did. She remembered saving her awful school lunch so her sister could eat something, anything when they got home. She remembered waiting until her sister fell asleep in the bed across the small room before letting silent tears slip down her cheeks. She remembered becoming a mother to someone two years younger than she was.

And she was alone now, no one whose emotional state was more dire than hers. Shaky breaths and sniffles turned into silent sobs and flooded lungs. It went on for what must have been hours until she felt so withered and dried up she could barely breathe. Blinking was difficult because of the puffiness of her eyes. Mochi never left her side the whole time, kneading her legs and purring into her stomach.

Sadness gave way to exhaustion, and Cass fell asleep on the couch at three in the morning, surrounded by used tissues and cat on her lap.

The Lucky Cat stayed closed the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that. Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months as Cass kept falling.

Everything seemed incomplete. There weren't any explosions from the garage or the second floor, no pounding footsteps coming from the ceiling that told her they were chasing each other again, no muffled laughter at two in the morning on a school night. The whole house was empty. The whole world was empty.

She didn't know who or what to blame for this. She wanted to scold Tadashi for running into a burning bulding to help a dead man, and yell at Hiro for going after him. But then she realized that both of them were doing what they always did; Tadashi helping, Hiro following. She couldn't blame either of them for that. So she settled on Callaghan. The man had been inside the building long after the fire started, doing god-knows-what, not leaving the building as soon as he smelled smoke and basically made her nephews commit double suicide. Yes, she'd hate Callaghan, she'd spit on his grave if there was enough left of him to have one.

She knew that she should get out and find some help, someone to talk to. She majored in psychology, she understood how people worked and what they needed. She knew just how far she could sink from experience. Everything screamed at her to fix herself. But she couldn't bring herself to do so.

She was the last Hamada in existence. Grandparents, parents, sister, nephews, all of them had died in horrendous ways, never peacefully with old age in their sleep. She would always feel guilt for being the one spared again and again, the one left alive every 's why she swore to stay single and never have children, because she might wake up one day and find that she was alone again. That's why she was hesitant to care for her nephews, why she never seemed responsible or tried to settle down. Carelessness was a superpower, an armor she kept tightly wound around her body. Cassandra might be superhuman, but then again, she wasn't bulletproof.

* * *

**A.N.: So how'd you guys like this? I was thinking of making this a series, but I'm a bit hesitant seeing as this can stand alone as a one-shot. Leave a review or something if you'd like to see Aunt Cass and Mochi go on a quest or something. You don't have to though. Thank you for reading this crappy story. Apologies for the bad spelling, I don't have a beta and I write most of these on mobile :(**


	2. Nothing to Lose

**(A.N.: Ok you get your wish. Prepare to see Aunt Cass be a total badass.)**

* * *

Aunt Cass had finally cracked when she got a message from Tadashi's friends. She had been flipping mindlessly through her phone when the screen lit up with an incoming FaceMail. She tapped the 'answer' icon and saw Gogo, Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Fred's smiling but concerned faces.

"Hey, Aunt Cass, how's it been? We haven't seen you around much, and we want to know if you're doing okay," Fred said.

"We wanna see you again!" Honey Lemon pouted.

The message continued, everyone sending condolences and well-wishes before they all waved goodbye and ended the message.

Cass sighed as she got up off the couch. They were right. She couldn't stay on the couch forever. They were nearly fifteen years younger than she was, but they were able to come to terms with his death better than she did. _I need to get myself in order_, she thought as she stretched her back and headed upstairs. Tadashi and Hiro's things had to be dusted and put away.

Cass peered into their room. Golden shafts of dusty light illuminated their empty beds like spotlights. Mochi was curled up on top of Hiro's still-rumpled sheets, snoring gently. She shook the cat awake, trying to shoo her off the sheets so they could be washed. Mochi gripped the blanket in her claws and gave an irritated meow.

"Mochi, I need to clean the sheets. I miss him too, but his stuff can't stay like this forever. Look, it's getting dusty! I'm trying to put my life back together here, so don't make it anymore difficult than it already is."

"Mrrow."

She tried picking up the cat, flinching when her claws broke her skin.

"Oww! Mochi! I clean your litter box and brush you ever day, is this what I get in return? Ow, ow, ow," she scolded.

A beeping, then an inflating sound came from across the room. A large, round figure shuffled around in Tadashi's half of the room, nothing but a silhouette behind the thick screen. Cass forgot about her cuts as the thing knocked over a pile of books, wedged between the bed and the drawer as it tried to reach the woman. It finally made its way past the screen and revealed itself to be a white, inflatable robot. It waved its right hand in a circular motion and said,

"Hello, I am Baymax, you personal healthcare companion."

"Hey, Baymax. Weren't you Tadashi's project?"

"I heard a sound of distress. What seems to be the problem?" he asked, ignoring Cass's question.

"There's no problem, I'm totally fine. Mochi just scratched me. _Isn't that right?_" she said, throwing a glare at the cat, who was purring on the sheets innocently.

"On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?"

"A zero, Baymax, I'm fine. It'll go away after a bit."

"I will now scan you. Scan complete. You have three cuts on your right forearm, as well as decreased levels of endorphin, and increased amounts of testosterone, common in biological females with your condition. Diagnosis: Premenstrual Syndrome. You should expect: cramping, mood swings, increased appetite, and bleeding from the v-"

"What? Baymax, no! I'm not on my-"

The robot continued.

"Treatments for Premenstrual Syndrome include: sanitary napkins, tampons, hot baths, drinking raspberry tea, and getting plenty of rest."

"Uh."

"Does it hurt when I touch your cuts?" The robot reached forward to inspect Cass's wounds.

"No, Baymax, it's fine," she said, pulling away.

"I will now apply a bandage."

The robot opened the fingertips of its right hand to reveal several rolls of bandages of various sizes, textures, and patterns. Baymax gently grabbed Cass's arm, sprayed an antibiotic aerosol on it, and rolled three long bandages onto each of her cuts. They were light blue with little orange cats prancing around on them.

"Thanks, Baymax," she said, rubbing the bandages.

"Are you satisfied with your care?"

"Uh-huh. You can go back to sleep now."

"I cannot sleep. I am a robot."

"Well, you get the idea."

The robot shuffled back to his charging station when it (or he) looked at Tadashi's empty bed and asked,

"Where is Tadashi? He finishes his classes at three. It is currently four o' seven. Is he alright?"

"He's...gone."

"Gone where? Will he be back soon?"

"Tadashi and Hiro, they- they died. Nearly a month ago. They're not coming back."

"Both of them were in excellent health. With a proper diet and enough exercise, they should have lived long lives."

"I know, Baymax. But there was a fire. They ran in to save their professor when the building exploded."

Her eyes couldn't help but well up with tears as she explained to Baymax what had happened. The robot noticed this and hugged her, stiffly patting her hair.

"There, there. It is okay to cry. Crying is a natural response to pain."

"I'm not crying, I'll be okay."

"An excess of a saline solution with a different chemical composition than regular lubricating tears is collecting on the surface of your eyes. You are indeed crying."

"I just can't win, huh?" she sighed as Baymax hugged Cass for what became an awkward amount of time.

"I need to clean up," she said as she finally wiggled out of his grip.

Baymax didn't move as Cass started picking things up and putting them into their respective drawers, trunks, and closets. She'd have to get boxes later. She tried to put everything away without getting caught up on sentimentality, but sometimes there was a trinket, photo, or memento that would send her reeling from decimated dreams of what had and what could have been. It was the worst when she picked up Tadashi's hat and Hiro's jacket, clutching them both to her chest with shaky breaths. She might have stopped cleaning all together if she had not felt a small wiggle in the fabric of Hiro's pocket. She pulled the thing from the pocket and nearly dropped it when it tried to whiz out of her hand.

It was a microbot. It rolled around in her hand, trying to go out towards the street outside the window.

"Hmm? Hiro's microbot? How'd that get there?" she muttered.

"Increased hormone levels can cause emotional distress and confusion in some women."

"No, no, I mean, Hiro said these things are attracted to each other. But they're all gone. So where is it trying to go?"

Cass put it in one of Hiro's petri dishes to keep it from getting away. Baymax waddled over to the microbot and looked at it with interest. He picked it up, staring at the way it bumped against the glass.

"Your tiny robot wants to go somewhere."

The robot was getting a little annoying at this point.

"It's probably broken," she said, walking away from the desk and opening a window, "You can follow it if you want."

"Would it stabilize your premenstrual mood swings if I found out where it was going?"

"Uh-huh, totally," she said, distracted.

It wasn't until she heard the faint tinkle of the Lucky Cat's door chiming did she realize that Baymax was gone. She looked out the open window in horror. Outside on the street was Baymax, petri dish in hand, breaking nearly every traffic law in existence.

"Baymax! Oh, no!"

She tumbled down the stairs, whipping the door open as she pursued the robot. People grumbled and cars honked as Cass bowled past pedestrians.

"Sorry! 'Scuse me! Thank you!" she shouted.

She was just about to catch up to him when she was stopped by the worst person you could ever be stopped by when in a hurry. Mrs. Matsuda.

"Hey, Cassie! It's nice seeing you out again!" she said, towering above the woman with her stilettos.

"Oh, hey, Eva! Yeah, I know, it's been a while," she said, glancing behind her shoulders as Baymax turned a corner.

"You've lost so much weight! You've got to eat, Cassandra," she grabbed her shoulders, pulling her heavily-made up face inches away from hers.

"Heh, yeah, I know, I'm trying to get out now, you know, go for a brisk run and get my blood pumpin' and everything!"

"That's great to hear. Say, do you want to go to Tony's restaurant on Seventh and Kihei Street once you're done?"

"Uh, yeah, sure! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to run!"

"Alright then! Bye, Cass! I'll see you in an hour!"

"Bye Eva!"

Cass darted off, desperately searching for the robot. _How can you lose something so big? And important! Cass, you really need to up your game,_ she thought. Her eyes rattled in their sockets as she scanned the city. She almost screeched with joy when she finally spotted his pillowy form on the back of a trolley, groaning out loud when she lost sight of him again. Cass chased him up hills and down alleys, cursing herself for wearing ballerina flats that day when she slipped for the hundredth time. She was sweating madly and wheezing for breath by the time she caught up with Baymax, who was standing in front of an abandoned warehouse.

"Baymax! Why would you run off that!? Don't. Ever. Do that. Again." she huffed.

"I have found where Hiro's tiny robot wants to go."

"I told you it was broken!"

"You told me to follow it."

"Just give me that thing. We need to go home."

She snatched it out of his hands and gave it a weary glance. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the microbot was moving differently now- tapping against the glass in a definite direction instead of mindlessly looping around and around the dish. She turned the dish away from the door. The microbot didn't change its position, kind of like the needle of a compass. She approached the double doors. It was chained shut, but there was probably enough space for Cass to slip through if she pulled the handle. She glanced, hesitant, at the microbot, then at the door.

"Do you want to follow the tiny robot?"

_Should I go in? What's the worst that could happen, anyway? I've got nothing to lose._

"I guess."

She pulled the doors open. They slid open surprisingly silently for their age. The chains were pulled taut after the doors were split about a foot apart. Cass put the petri dish into her back pocket, turned sideways, ducked, and shuffled into the dark chamber. Baymax tried to follow her, and found himself wedged between the doors.

"Oh no."

"Baymax, shush!" she hissed.

"Excuse me while I let out some air."

Something that sounded like a combination of a balloon deflating and flatulence filled the air. Cass stared incredulously as Baymax slowly shrunk.

"Are you done?"

An extra-loud _splort_ echoed in the warehouse before he said 'yes'. Cass pulled the now-shrunken robot through the gap, struggling when his head got caught.

"Turn your head to the side, Baymax."

She pulled him through the doors with a rubbery _pop_. Baymax lay on his side now, staring up at the woman.

"It will take me a moment to re-inflate."

"That's fine, just stay here. And don't make any noise."

She tiptoed through the cold building, using the microbot like a compass as she made her way to the center. A small structure, glowing blue with frosted glass, was off near the back. Something thin and mechanical was whirring away inside. She felt a cold sweat creep down her back as she sneaked back and grabbed a metal pipe lying on the ground. She slowly made her way to the glass, peering inside. The view was clearer up close. Two mechanical arms were assembling something while a 3-D printer hummed, busy at work. A small clicking sound drew her attention to the right side of the structure. She looked around a corner to see a conveyor belt dropping tiny objects into a large, metal barrel.

She lowered the pipe with a soft _ping_ as she approached the conveyor belt. They were dropping microbot after microbot into the container, which was nearly filled to the brim with them. She delicately picked one up, rolling the cool metal between her fingers, and dropping it in shock when she saw the sheer amount of barrels behind it.

"What is this?" she said.

She looked off to the wall on the far right. A giant map of San Fransokyo was pinned to the wall, covered with strings, mysterious blueprints and unintelligible notes. A red symbol near the center of the mess caught her eye. It was a logo of a swallow in flight, surrounded by a circle and colored all in red. A cold gust of wind breezed past her ear, and a sudden voice sent her heart pumping at marathon speed.

"Cass?"

"Gah!"

She swung her pipe like a bat when she heard the speaker, dropping it with a loud clatter when she saw who it was.

"Baymax! Don't scare me like that! I almost wet myself!"

"Incontinence can be very inconvenient and embarrassing. Allow me to insert a catheter."

The robot shuffled forwards towards Cass, producing the catheter out of nowhere.

"No, no no no no! It's an expression!" she said, darting away.

A vibration in her pocket distracted her from the conversation. She pulled the petri dish out to see the microbot shaking madly, pointing directly behind her as Baymax shifted his attention to the barrels.

"Oh no," he said in his pleasant monotone.

Millions of microbots were rising from the containers like the swell of a tsunami about to crash, reaching all the way to the forty-foot ceiling. Cass shrieked in terror when she took in the sheer amount of the things. She sprinted away at top speed, cursing and halting when she realized that Baymax wasn't following her.

"Are you serious?! We need to run! _Run_, not waddle!" she shouted.

"I am not fast."

"I can tell!"

She grabbed him by one pudgy arm and dragged him towards the exit. The bots flooded after them, clicking and roaring.

"Come on come on come on!"

She rattled on the door, trying to stuff Baymax through the small space.

"Excuse me while I let out some air."

The robot slowly squirted out air.

"Forget it! We don't have time! Just run!"

Cass pulled him from the entrance and yanked him along the warehouse. The microbots sealed off the doors with splinters of wood and sand they picked up from the ground. They ran around the building, stumbling over pipes and nearly crushing their skulls on low ceilings and broken beams.

"Move it, move it, _move it_!"

She shoved Baymax through tight corners, air vents, and up the stairs as the bots followed them with an untiring speed, obeying an unknown master. They stood on the catwalk on the second floor, desperately trying to find an exit the tiny robots didn't seal off.

"Baymax! How do we get out of here!?"

"There is a window."

He was right. She stepped backwards, trying not to miss any move the robot made. She tried to shove the chubby robot through the rotating panes, frantically ramming her shoulders into his behind when she spotted the man in the kabuki mask.

He completely black-clad save for his red-and-white mask. He was illuminated by a single spot of light as he held his gloved hands out to his sides, coat billowing behind him as another wave of microbots appeared and rushed towards them. She finally managed to shove Baymax through the window just as the bots started to nip at her shoes, flying out towards the ground some thirty feet below. Baymax caught her around the waist and cushioned the landing like a giant airbag, bouncing a few times before coming to a full stop.

Cass lay on the ground for a few minutes, trying to catch her breath after the escapade. She looked at the windows, both surprised and relieved when she didn't see a horde of bots bursting out to reach her. She rubbed a hand over her face and sighed.

"Ugh, I'm too old for this," she groaned.

* * *

The policeman didn't believe a word she said.

"Alright, let me get this straight. A man in a kabuki mask attacked you with an army of miniature flying robots."

"M-microbots. My nephew built them," she said, holding out the petri dish.

He gave her an unimpressed look as he tapped onto his keyboard.

"'Microbots'."

"Yeah. They're controlled with this headband, you put it on and they do whatever you want them to. It's like telepathy."

"So Mister Kabuki was using ESP to attack you and Balloon Man."

The officer looked at Baymax, who was repairing himself with strips of tape.

"So did you or your nephew file a report when his flying robots were stolen?"

"Um, no. I thought they were all destroyed in the fire."

"What fire? And what about your nephew?"

"There was a fire at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology about a month ago. My nephew, he- he was in the building when it exploded. He's gone."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that, ma'am, but we can't do anything without proper evidence."

Cass sighed.

"Yeah. I know it sounds totally crazy, and it probably is, but Baymax was there too. You can ask him if you want! Go on, Baymax, tell him what happened."

"Yes, Officer, she is telling the truu-uth..."

Baymax leaned forward and wobbled as his voice slowed and wavered.

"What the? What's wrong?"

"Lo-ww, battery..."

The officer raised a greying eyebrow at Baymax's hiccuping and unfocused cameras.

"Oh, come on, Baymax."

"I'm healthcare, your personal Bay-hic-Baymax. Your hormone l-l-l-evels, aswell as your state if emotions, signifalll, that you are undergoing-hic-syndrome. Diagonal: Promantrual Syndrome."

"Baymax! Sorry about that, Officer, he's just... I don't even know."

"Lady, how about we wait until you can fix your robot and you're off your rag until you come back here, hmm? Just sign your name and-"

"I'm not on my period! And my nephew built this robot, so I have no idea how this works."

"Was this the same nephew who built the microbots?"

"No. Just- just- I'm gonna go home. Thank you for your time, sir."

They were gone before the officer could object.

* * *

"Okay, how do I charge you..."

Cass led Baymax, trying to get his feet into the charging dock. She had nearly succeeded when Mochi came prancing up the stairs. Baymax reached a deflated arm towards her.

"Hairy baby! Hairy-hic-baby!"

The drunken robot wiggled out of Aunt Cass's grip and waddled towards the cat. Mochi jumped into his arms, purring when he stroked her back.

"Baymax! Come back here!"

She was about to retrieve him when her phone rang. She looked at the screen and dropped her gaze when she saw the caller I.D.

"Oh no."

Mrs. Matsuda had been waiting at Tony's bistro for nearly an hour.

* * *

**A.N.: Yo thanks for reading my un-beta'd crap. Poor Aunt Cass, she can't ever get a break, ahaha.**

** I'm not too sure how often I'll be able to update, since I have no idea what the hell I'm doing, and since I love and hate deadlines at the same time. I'll definitely try to get a chapter out once every week or so, but nothing is concrete at the moment. Thanks again for reading, my lovely little toads, and have a nice day! **


	3. Fire Away, Fire Away

Cass loved Mrs. Matsuda, she really did, but she couldn't process a single word she said that evening at Tony's. The image of the kabuki mask had branded itself behind her eyelids and the ominous clicking of the microbots rang in her ears like rattling fish bones. Cass closed her eyes and tucked her head into her arms in an attempt to ward the thoughts off. Mrs. Matsuda noticed that she wasn't listening with her usual patience and stopped talking about the time she broke her foot from jumping off the second floor.

"Cassie, are you alright? You seem distracted," she said, clasping her withered fingers around Cass's cold hands.

"Huh? Wha?"

She lifted her head off the cool table, eyes drooping with lethargy and a weariness that had persisted for weeks. She shook herself once she realized that she had almost fallen asleep at the small booth.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Eva. I'm just so tired from all that running."

"Well, there's no need to apologize, Cass, if you're tired. I'm not surprised, you were out for almost two hours! You should head home and get some sleep. You need it."

"Oh, thanks, Eva. But I'm fine, really. I need to start getting out more, you know? Shake it off and start again. If it means I'll be tired for a while, then so be it."

"If you're going to stay, then at least eat one breadstick. They're amazing today."

Mrs. Matsuda slid the basket towards her, the warm, buttery smell doing nothing for Cass's appetite. She couldn't possibly think about breadsticks and marinara sauce, no matter how delicious and greasy after a day like this.

"Oh, no, I'm just not that hungry," she said, pushing the red plastic basket back.

"Oh, Cassie, you need to eat something! Do it for me, then, if you can't do it for yourself."

"Alright, you win," she said with the fakest laugh she's ever made.

The bread tasted like stained dishrags, weighing down her insides like she had swallowed wet cement.

* * *

She purged everything in her stomach as soon as she got home, ignoring Mochi's mewls as she scratched on the bathroom door, inquisitive. The only thing she consumed for the rest of the night was a glass of water taken from the kitchen sink. When she decided that it was time to rest, sleep wouldn't come. Cass stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours as she pondered the day's events, holding Tadashi's cap in one hand and the lonely microbot in the other, both resting on her blanket-covered stomach.

It was honestly insane. Who could have possibly found Hiro's design? The blueprints were all still in the garage, and Hiro, as far as she knew, never explained how it worked in full to anyone other than Tadashi, who had taken the secret with him into the fire. It would take months, maybe years for an ordinary person to reverse engineer it, let alone replicate them by the millions and command them perfectly the first few times around. Aunt Cass could barely understand a word of the technical jargon her nephews said when they tried to explain how they worked.

This person was definitely well-versed in robotics. Perhaps they were close to one of her nephews and managed to get a glimpse at the inner workings of the microbot's design. Her mind immediately jumped to Tadashi's friends at SFIT. Maybe one of them...

_No way, _she thought. They were his best friends, and even though Cass had met them only once, she knew from the start that none of them could do something like that. All of them were far too kind to even contemplate stealing Hiro's design and using it against her. It had to be someone else

_Callaghan? No, he's dead. __Krei?_ She doubted his nose would have fit under that mask.

"Ugh," she groaned, pulling her hands to her face, "this doesn't make any sense."

_There's no use thinking about it now. You can go over this tomorrow, _she thought.

_But I can't! A man in a kabuki mask attacked me and my nephew's inflatable nurse with my other nephew's tiny hiveminded robots! How am I supposed to stop thinking about it? It's so crazy even the police didn't listen! You've got to do something, Cass, _another side of her head argued.

_What can you even do? Walk up to that guy and say, "Hey! Stop trying to kill me whenever you see me and give me my nephew's robots back!" Do you think that's gonna go down well? _the original voice said, this time a little weaker.

_It's probably not. But the cops aren't doing anything, and I can't let whoever that person is keep doing...whatever he's doing. Someone has to do something. And if no one else is gonna do anything about it, I'll have to,_ she thought.

Heartened by her speech to herself, she sat up and marched to her closet. Her pajamas were replaced with thick, warm jeans, a t-shirt, and a puffy feather jacket. Her necklace was slipped back around her neck, the cold stone providing a familiar weight and texture. The microbot went into its petri dish and stayed in Cass's hands. She went up to Baymax, who was deactivated and charging, and pressed his manual power button. He inflated quickly, his monotone voice somehow tinged with concern when he saw that she was still awake.

"Cassandra? I thought you were going to sleep. What are you doing awake so late? It is important for adults of all ages to get between six to seven hours of sleep per night. Without proper amounts of sleep-"

"Never mind sleeping, Baymax. We've got places to go," she said, slipping on her socks and going down the stairs.

She dragged him by his arm when he didn't follow. The truck's engine roared as she zoomed out of the garage. Tires squealed and rubber burned at every rough, speed-limit breaking stomp on the gas pedal. Baymax sat in the passenger seat, bumping his head against the window every time she turned. The microbot was on the dashboard, serving as a compass.

"Cassandra, do you know what you are going to do once you find the man in the mask?" he asked.

"No."

The streets were completely empty at this time of night, the changing colors of the street lights haunting without anyone to follow their commands.

"What if he tries to attack you again? You appear to have little knowledge of self defense or combat."

"I'll be fine, Baymax. I won't get hurt. You don't need to care for me," she said.

"I cannot have that he hurt you. You are my patient."

"Then what do you want me to do?" she said, veering a harsh left.

For once, the robot was at a loss for words.

"The cops don't believe me, and I doubt anyone else will if I told them. I've got to get evidence, a-a picture, something, anything, just so I know that I'm not completely insane."

Cass stopped the car when she was met with a chain-link fence. They were at the docks. The microbot rattled in its dish, pointing straight at the shipping crates ahead of them. She took the microbot, got out of the car, Baymax following, and remembered to lock her doors in the nick of time.

The door set into the fence wasn't locked. She pushed it aside and kept walking in, ignoring the shipping crates that loomed over the both of them and cast enormous shadows. She followed the little robot, not watching her steps, and was only saved from falling into the dark water by Baymax's quick thinking.

"Please exercise caution. The water is currently forty-three degrees Fahrenheit, and swimming in cold water can cause hypothermia. Swimming at night is also dangerous due to lack of proper lighting in case of emergencies," he said as he hauled her by the back of her jacket.

"Thanks, Baymax."

A small clattering sound made Cass's hair stand on end. The microbot was rattling against the glass, frantically trying to escape like it did earlier in the warehouse. The robot shook harder and harder, and it flipped out from its container and fell into the ocean before Cass could stop it. _Plink!_

"Something's coming..." she whispered.

"Follow me, Baymax."

They sprinted back behind the crates, waiting. The dock was completely silent save for the sound of the sea. But not for long. A group of voices echoed through the seemingly-deserted area, weaving through the steel boxes, heading Cass's way. The owners of the voices eventually appeared on her right, five teenagers who probably snuck out of their homes for a fun night out. They hushed when they saw Cass and Baymax huddling behind a red crate.

"Hey, lady, what are you doing?" one asked.

"You guys need to get out of here," she said in a half-whisper.

They looked at each other incredulously.

"Umm?" a blue-haired girl asked.

"It's not safe. Something's out there in the water."

The water seemed completely still.

"There's nothing there. You're crazy, lady, and your robot is too. Let's go, guys."

They sauntered away, occasionally glancing back at Cass with disdain. She watched them disappear into the fog that had suddenly gathered. Their voices still echoed even though they were now invisible. _I hope they'll be alright._

"I have detected: one life signature in the water," Baymax said, breaking the silence.

"What?"

_Foooshh! _Thousands of gallons of seawater rushed into the air, flooding down and revealing a black pillar. A stark white spot was at the very top.

It was the man in the mask. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out as the mass of microbots pulled enormous, metal parts from the water. They glistened in the cold lights that illuminated the loading dock. One part caught her eye as it passed under the light. It was branded with a logo, the same one that she had seen in the abandoned warehouse. He didn't seem to notice Cass or Baymax as he hefted part after part from the icy water.

She found the man. Now what? Cass pressed her back into the cold metal, not daring to look back at the scene behind her. _What do I do, what do I do, oh god this was a bad idea-_

"Your heart rate has increased."

"Shh!"

The robot's heavyhanded statement resonated through the dock. The rushing of water stopped. She could feel those yellow eyes searching for the source of the sound. Trickles of microbots crept through the darkened gaps between the crates, waving around like an angular, deadly stream. Cass looked around desperately for an exit. She hopped around the bots, praying that Baymax wouldn't step on one as he waddled after her. Of course, Murphy's Law was not a merciful one.

"Oh no."

"Baymax!"

Cass took off in a sprint, yelping when the mircobots nipped at her hands and feet. _Where's the car where's the car where's the god forsaken CAR? _She ran aimlessly, circling around several times and barely managing to stay out of the reach of the man. It felt like years before she finally saw the chain-linked fence, and she was too out of breath to whoop with joy. She fumbled desperately for her keys, screaming in frustration and panic when she couldn't get the keys into the tiny lock. She finally knew how those people in her favorite horror movies felt. She managed to open the door and stuff Baymax into the passenger seat just as the microbots caught up to her.

The truck started with a roar as she shifted gears and went even faster than she did before. Bullets ran down her face as she looked in the rear view mirror. The man was still behind her, pursuing her relentlessly, doing flying leaps and other ridiculous stunts that should be impossible.

"Baymax! Do you have a built in GPS!?"

She had no idea where she was. San Fransokyo was an extensive city, and Cass was in one of the odder parts of town. The fog wasn't helping much either, making dead ends seem like wide avenues and camouflaging any pedestrians.

"Yes, a Global Positioning System has been installed by my creator. We are currently on: Mariposa Street, Latitude:"

"I don't need that! How do I get home!?"

"In three feet, turn left."

Of course she didn't make that turn.

"New route: in seven hundred and forty-three point sixty five feet, turn right."

"You are the wort GPS I have ever used!"

She swerved away from an encroaching tendril, screaming when one bumped the back of her truck. Her beautiful truck. The one she had bought with the money she made at the Lucky Cat. The one she's had for the past fifteen years. No. She stuck her head out the window and shouted into the wind.

"Did you just do what I think you did? If you even _scratched_ my bumper, I will sue you so hard! And would you please stop trying to kill me!? That would be really nice!"

"There is a wall."

Cass looked back at what was in front of her only to see a wall of solid cement. She slammed the brakes, but to no avail. A sharp jolt of pain and the sound of tearing metal filled the world around her.

* * *

**A.N.: Welcome back everyone ('everyone' meaning the four/five of you lovely followers). I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it was a huge pain to write since the canon divergence gets really apparent here, and it's only going to keep going further. She never teams up with Tadashi's group, but she does stay in touch with them and considers them friends. And cool as Aunt Cass is, she has very little knowledge of robotics and so she can't build Baymax that funny suit like Hiro did in the movie. She does, however, get some help from her nephews in a different way, but that's a tidbit for another chapter. Say, do you think Aunt Cass should talk to Yama/the Fujitas at some point? Let me know what you think. Have a great morning/afternoon/evening!**


	4. Ricochet

Her eyes were open, but everything was dark. Something dry and rubbery was covering her mouth and nose. Panic began to set in when she fell short of breath. Sharp jolts of pain ricocheted through her muscles when she tried to roll over to find some air. Her struggle didn't last long, however, when she felt something turn her over and expose her to the night air that was stained with the smell of smoke and rubber.

"You have crashed."

Baymax was cradling Cass in his arms, looking down on her with round, blank eyes.

"Urgh..." she groaned.

"You have sustained minimal injuries due to the fact that you have used a seatbelt and had fully functional airbags. I have also braced you to further ensure your safety."

"Whaddo I got?" she drawled.

"You have: several sprained muscles in the neck, back, and arms and potential minor brain damage. You may be at risk for shock. Although I have been programmed with over ten thousand medical procedures, it is best for a human professional to assess and care for your potential brain injuries. I will contact the nearest hospital. Hospital contacted. The ambulance will be here in approximately ten minutes."

"Is the guy still chasin' us?"

"The man in the mask has left. Perhaps he assumed that you are deceased."

"'M surprised I lived."

"Please do not attempt to apprehend criminals by yourself the next time. As your nurse, I am responsible for your safety and I cannot have you risking your health in such a way."

Cass sighed.

"You're right. Sorry, Baymax."

"There is no need to apologize. I only ask that you learn from this experience."

She gave a small, sad smile.

"Alright, then. I won't go alone next time."

"Next time?"

"Yeah, Baymax, next time. I'm not gonna stop until I get that guy."

The wailing of the ambulances sounded muffled as the edges of her vision began to fade to black.

* * *

Cass was lying on a motionless gurney, staring up at the green-clad people above her. Everything felt uncomfortable. The lights were too bright, the air was too stale and cold for her taste, more than half of her was bound in braces, and Baymax wasn't at her side since he wasn't allowed in the ICU. Her muscles complained every time she tried to move her limbs or her head, and her vision was blurry and doubled. The nurses' nametags were unreadable, and her eyes felt like microwaved grapes when she squinted to read them. She groaned in pain and swallowed her bile.

"Alright then. My name is Macy. I'm your doctor. The nurses are Sam, Malik, Patty, and Myung-Il, going from left to right. We'd like to ask you some questions, is that all right?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Are you in any pain right now?" she asked.

"Only if I move. I think it's only a few sprained muscles. I feel kind of dizzy, though. Everything's swirling around."

Patty, the frizzy-haired redhead who was holding the clipboard, scribbled down her words.

"Have you been drinking before the accident?" Myung-Il asked.

"Nope."

"We'll see."

She didn't feel the needle prick her skin when they drew her blood. She watched in a daze as her thick, crimson blood made its way through the transparent tube that sucked her veins dry. It was funneled into a small machine built into the gurney, probably to check on patients blood without having to take it to a lab. The machine was blank for a few moments before revealing several figures on the screen with a pleasant ding. Patty studied the screen and scribbled down the numbers onto her clipboard.

"She's totally clean. No drugs, alcohol," she muttered to the other staff members.

"Then how did she not see an enormous gate right her way?" Sam asked.

"Let's ask her. Miss, uh," she looked at her clipboard, "Hamada. Miss Hamada, how did you get in this accident?"

"I was being chased."

"By whom?"

"The man in the mask. I-I don't know his name or who he is, but he wears a kabuki mask and controls these things called microbots. My nephew invented them, but he stole the design. I was trying to find out what he was up to when he found me at the docks. He started chasing me and I was looking backwards at him when I crashed into the gate."

The throng of people tending to her stopped their chattering and stared at her.

"I'm serious, there is a man in a kabuki mask who tried to kill me!"

"Doc, are you sure that drug tester isn't broken? We haven't replaced them in years," Malik asked.

"Ugh, you don't believe me either. This is the police station all over again. Never mind. To you, I'm just a crazy lady with a robot," Cass said, rolling her dizzy eyes.

"It's not that we don't believe you, it's just that your brain is at risk for injury, and so your memory might be a little off. Perhaps he was a mugger?" Sam asked.

"I know that you think I'm lying. But it happened. He was in a mask, at the docks, pulling these giant parts out of the water."

"We'll let you talk to the police again if you want to. But first, we're going to have to evaluate your mental state and give you a CAT scan. Let's move her out," the doctor said.

Sam and Myung-Il grabbed hold of the handles on the ends of the gurney, one pushing, one pulling. The bed started to move out of the curtained-off area and out of the room.

"How long do I have to stay in here?" she asked as they rolled her down the hallway.

"We're not sure. Depends on what shows up in the scan. Maybe two days, maybe two months. The brain is a difficult thing to care for," Malik said.

She stared up at the ceiling, dreaming of going back to the cafe when she remembered her cat.

"Hold on, who's gonna take care of Mochi? She's my cat, and she needs someone to feed her and everything."

"There's no need to worry. We've contacted a local animal shelter to take care of her while you're here," he said.

"Good. What about Baymax?"

"Who?"

"The robot that's following us."

She pointed to the white robot, who was following the nurses with his charming waddle. He waved when he noticed the eyes of the nurses.

"We need to keep him out of the patients' areas. A lot of them have weak immune systems, who knows what that bot is carrying," Macy said.

"He's a healthcare robot, actually. You should let him help out a bit around the hospital."

"We'll have to sterilize him first."

"That's fine. But trust me, he's gonna be a huge hit with the kids."

They pulled up to the scanning room a little while later. Baymax tried to follow and had to be stopped by the doctor. They shut the door on him, and he stared through the small rectangular window that was cut into the thick steel door.

Cass was unloaded from the gurney and strapped to the scanning platform. They left her, a few taking their seats behind a small area room sectioned off with glass and concrete, the others standing behind them, typing info Cass couldn't see into computers and muttering muffled words to each other.

"Try to relax, and don't move around too much, okay?" Patty spoke into the intercom.

The flat platform began to slide slowly into the large drum of the CAT scanner. She closed her eyes and listened to the electric humming of the machine as it looked into her brain, rotating and flashing as it went. As soon as it had started, it had finished. She exited the machine and moved back onto her gurney.

"It's gonna take a while for us to get the results," the doctor said to her, "Take her to an empty room," she told the nurses.

It took a couple of tries for Baymax to get the message and move out of the door's way. He shuffled after them, getting distracted multiple times by the sick patients languishing behind the inpatient care units, diagnosing them and recommending various treatments. One moment was particularly heartwarming when he hugged an emaciated, chair-bound child close to his chest, a soft, warm glow radiating from his stomach. The nurses saw this and smiled gently.

"You were right. Where did this guy come from, anyways?" Myung-Il asked.

"He was my nephew's. He designed him especially for kids who didn't like hospitals or needed frequent treatment. He was always looking out for other people," she said with a nostalgic smile.

"Is he no longer...in the picture?" she asked.

"Yes," she said with some difficulty, "he passed a month ago. I can give you the design, it's what he would have wanted."

"We're sorry for your loss, Miss Hamada," Doctor Macy said.

"No worries. I've been trying to get over all...this, recently."

"We can find you a therapist if you feel like you're struggling."

"No, no, it's fine. I'm making progress."

"If you say so."

Cass was set down onto the larger bed, adjusted and shifted until she was as comfortable as she could be with several sprained muscles and a potential concussion. Baymax was allowed in, and he stood off in the corner as the nurses did their work, knowing not to interfere.

"Why do I need these?" she asked as she was attached to a few heart and breathing monitors.

"You need it in case your body starts acting up due to undetected brain damage. Sometimes the swelling is slower, and the symptoms and cranial pressure don't start until much later. We need to be there in case something happens. Don't worry, it probably won't happen in your case. It's just a precaution, since there's always exceptions," the doctor said.

"Just press this button if you need anything, food, water, a bathroom break."

Patty gestured to a large, green button built into the bed. A white medical cross was in the center.

"We'll see you in the morning," Macy said.

The lights dimmed to a barely-visible glow, casting everything into an artificial twilight as the nurses filed out of the room. The lighting and the lack of company made her realize how tired she was. She heaved an enormous yawn and sunk into sleep.

* * *

Something was hovering over Cass. The heat it sucked away from her chilled her skin, pulling her eyelids open. A menacing, lanky woman was towering over her vulnerable form. She seemed to take up the entire room, everywhere Cass looked, the woman was there, keeping her from seeing the exit or Baymax. An ancient instinct took over her as every fiber in her body told her that she was _dangerous, run!_ Her heart began to beat faster, the monitor's previously steady beeping becoming more frantic as the woman grew more detailed as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She pulled in a breath to scream when a delicate but calloused hand clapped over her mouth.

"_Shh...Don't say a word. Don't panic_."

Of course, having a terrifying-looking person tell another frightened person not to be afraid is bound to make them even more scared, because if they had to tell you that, it confirmed that you probably meant a lot of harm. Cass tried to wiggle from the other woman's grasp, but the grip on her mouth, and then the one around her neck, was as cold and strong as iron.

"_What did I say? If you make a sound, if you press that button, I will slit your throat_," she hissed.

_Oh, god, what did I do? Does she work with the man in the mask? Why aren't the nurses coming? Where's Baymax?_

Her mind ran at a million miles an hour, asking questions she couldn't say aloud.

"We need to talk. A lot. I'm gonna take the hand off your mouth, when I do, you better not scream 'cause my earlier 'offer' still stands. Capiche?"

Cass nodded. The woman huffed a "Good," and let go of her mouth, sending the woman gasping for air.

"You might want to know who I am. Just call me Fujita. Ever heard of Mr. Yama?"

"No," she whispered.

"Hmm, you sure? Your nephew sure pissed him off a while back. Big guy, bot-fighter, the one who _runs San Fransokyo?_ _Hello?_ Didn't your dear little Hiro ever tell you about him? How do you _not_ know him?"

"He wasn't allowed to go bot-fighting. He never told me anything that happens, even when he and his brother got sent to jail with your Mr. Yama."

"Oh ho ho, he's a sneaky little shit, isn't he?"

_Was, not is, _she thought.

"Don't talk about my nephew like that!"

Fujita (if that was her name) lunged forwards, jumping onto the bed and sitting on Cass's stomach, knocking the wind out of her and sending several sharp jolts of pain down her spine when she struggled to get away.

"Looky here, Cassie. You've got a concussion and seven sprained muscles. I'm sitting on you. Your bot's been popped. Those cameras have been set to loop. No one's gonna help you if you scream. I think you should give up on the whole 'brave' act. It doesn't suit you at all."

At this point, the woman was more irritating than intimidating. _I've had enough of you. _She sat up to lean into her face. She could see the geisha makeup on her face and smell her fruity, metallic perfume, like jasmine mixed with blood.

"Listen, lady. I have no idea what the hell your beef is with me, but if you need to talk, then stop talking about my _dead_, yes, _dead _nephew and get to the point."

"Little shit's gone? Shucks. I kinda missed him. He sure was clever for someone so small and annoying. Wanted to knock out those little gap-teeth every time I saw him, he was just too cute! So how'd he croak?"

"_Enough._"

"Alright, alright, yeesh, woman. Anyways, I'm here because of the man."

"The man?"

"Yokai."

"Who?"

"The man in the mask!"

"What about him."

"You've seen him. We've seen you see him. Remember those kids at the docks?"

* * *

_"Hey, lady, what are you doing?" one asked._

_"You guys need to get out of here," she said in a half-whisper._

_They looked at each other incredulously._

_"Umm?" a blue-haired girl asked._

_"It's not safe. Something's out there in the water."_

_The water seemed completely still._

_"There's nothing there. You're crazy, lady, and your robot is too. Let's go, guys."_

_They sauntered away, occasionally glancing back at Cass with disdain. She watched them disappear into the fog that had suddenly gathered. Their voices still echoed even though they were now invisible. I hope they'll be alright._

* * *

"Well? Do you? Or is your brain more scrambled than I thou-"

"I do," she interrupted.

Unfazed, Fujita continued,

"That was us. We're everywhere. We see everything that goes on in this city. The only thing we didn't see, however, is Yokai. That guy's nuts. He's stolen so much from us, tore up half our city. Kills anyone who spots him, especially our hood rats. We don't know what he wants. We don't know who he is. And Yama doesn't like that. He doesn't like not knowing."

"Why didn't those kids spot him?"

"They were just on patrol. When our cameras caught Yokai getting out of the water we told them to run for it. They're just kids. We can't get them killed."

So these thugs _did_ have a tiny kernel of a heart.

"So you want to know about this guy?" Cass asked.

"You've met Yokai twice and lived both times. You've got information that we don't. Give it to us, and we won't hurt you too much."

Cass knew that there was a huge criminal underworld in San Fransokyo, one so large and powerful that the police didn't even try cracking down on them for fear of their own lives. They slipped behind the scenes, tapping police phones, infiltrating San Fran's political affairs, offering drugs, money, sex, anything anyone could want as long as they were willing to pay to play. She knew it was a dangerous place, one to keep out of. If she helped this Mr. Yama, she would be involving herself with criminals and might be arrested for doing so if she were caught. She couldn't get arrested, she knew she wouldn't be able to handle it after everything that happened these past few days, and she didn't know whether this woman was lying or not. She might even be working for him!

But they were trying to get Yokai. They had more power, more people, more weapons and tactics to take that man down. Cass knew she couldn't get him alone, those last two fiascoes proved that true. She rubbed her head and sighed.

"Have you made up your mind?"

"Um, yeah. I'll-I'll help you. But we need to agree on a few things first."

"That's fine. Tell me what you want."

"One, I better not get caught helping you. Two, you better not be lying to me. Three, you need to tell me what you know about him first, and four, you better let me kill him myself."

"Sure. That's not much. We can hide anyone, we've got a million alibis around town. I'm not lying to you, or I wouldn't be a Fujita for anything. We can tell you what we know about him, but it's not a lot. Finally, we don't want to get our hands dirty anyways, so go crazy when we catch him."

"Thank you."

"Alright, so I'm gonna fulfill one of your wishes right here and now. We don't know a lot about Yokai. He's got this weird mass under his control, and we don't know just what it is. It's dangerous, though. We've got a narrow list of suspects. Our first one was Professor Robert Callaghan, but he died in that fire. Our next guess is Alistair Krei, CEO of KreiTech Industries. He's rich, crafty, and powerful. That's a very dangerous combination. He's currently at the top of our list. For a little while, we actually thought it was your nephew, the bigger one, who was doing all this. Anyways, that's about it. Evil guy in a mask who's trying to build something. That's it. Now talk."

Cass felt her anger flare up at the mention of the dead professor, and again when this woman mentioned that they suspected Tadashi as the criminal. She wanted to yell at the Fujita again, but she remembered that she had to cooperate if she wanted to find out who this man was. She swallowed her anger and took a breath.

"I first met this guy in an abandoned warehouse. I found it with Hiro's microbot. It turns out that this guy somehow stole the design for my nephew's robots and was mass-producing them for himself. That's what you guys saw, with the black mass and everything. It's controlled by a neuro-transmitter worn on the head, it's probably what that mask is for. He tried to attack me when he first saw me, but I got away in time. There was this map of San Fransokyo on one of the walls, it was covered with this one symbol. Could I, uh, have a piece of paper? Maybe a pen, some light?"

"Paper, yes, pen, yes, light? Nope. You're not gonna see this pretty face just yet."

She stopped straddling Cass and glided off, circling the room for writing utensils. Her movements were unusually fluid, gliding around like she was walking on a greasy pan. She came back a moment later with a ripped sheet of notebook paper and a pen.

"Thanks."

"No problemo."

It didn't take Cass much effort to bring the logo back into her mind. She drew the curved almost-circle, scribbling a swallow and clicking the pen shut in a moment of finality. She turned the paper around to show it to the Fujita, who was sitting on her again.

"It looked something like this, in red. I saw it on that wall, and on the parts at the dock."

The dark-haired woman snatched the paper away, lifting her eye patch to see it in the dark.

"Hmm..."

"Familiar?"

She folded the paper in half and stuck it into the folds of her short kimono.

"Nope. Continue."

"So I managed to get out of there, and I went home. But I couldn't get what happened off my mind, so I went out again, using the microbot again. I ended up at the docks this time. The microbot flew into the water, and I knew something was coming. I hid behind the crates, and that's when your kids saw me. After they left, Yokai showed up from the ocean and started pulling these giant metal parts out of the water. I saw that bird symbol again on one of them. Baymax accidentally said something, and Yokai found me. He started chasing after me again, and so I got in my truck and tried to get away from him. He chased me through half the city, and I was looking back at him when I crashed into the gate. He stopped chasing me. I guess he thought I died or something, but I didn't, with the airbags and seat belts and healthcare robots and all that stopping my head from getting cracked on the windshield. I was brought to the hospital, and then you showed up and threatened to kill me. That's all."

The Fujita was silent. Finally, she let out a whistle and raised her perfectly-plucked eyebrows.

"Damn. He's up to more than we thought. Do you know anything else?"

"Uh, it's all a blur, but maybe Baymax could tell you."

"Who's Baymax?"

"The robot you popped."

"Whoops. You got any tape?"

"Nope."

"Fuck. Well, we're gonna have to take him with us, then. Come on, get up. We've got to leave now."

The woman got off her and glided towards Baymax, scooping up his deflated form and opening the window. From this distance, Cass could tell that she was wearing roller skates. Weird.

"Wait, what?"

"We're leaving! You agreed to help us, remember?"

"Yeah, but, I didn't know I was supposed to come with you!"

"Well, a deal's a deal. Come on, we're not _that _dangerous."

Cass got up with some difficulty and tottered unsteadily to the window. The Fujita was already down about fifteen feet below, surrounded by a group of thugs, some male, some female, all looking street-toughened and raggedy.

"Come on, Cassie! We'll catch you!" she teased.

_Well, here I go. Sorry, everyone who thought I was a good, law-abiding citizen._

She bit back a scream as she jumped out the window.

* * *

**A.N.: If you're obsessed with Big Hero 6 like I am, you'll probably know about the Fujitas, the underlings of Yama's who were scrapped in the making of the story. I think they're really rad, and they have so much potential in exploring the more shady side of San Fransokyo, which I think is really underrepresented in the film. **

**At this point, Aunt Cass is desperate enough to get help from these ladies, so prepare to see more illegal stuff than normal. And thus, the plot thickens! Happy Valentine's Day!**


	5. You Take Your Aim

**A.N.: Have you ever heard the song 'Elastic Heart' by Sia? I think it really fits Aunt Cass in this story. Enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Cass had a surprisingly soft landing, the strongest of the group cradling her in their arms, making sure not to jolt her shoulders and back. They set her down, helping her stand up straight as they all loaded themselves into the back of an empty sixteen-wheeler. She was about to follow them when someone tapped her shoulder and pointed her towards the front of the truck.

"You're getting the front seat. Don't think that this'll be a regular occurrence. Be honored. Not everyone gets to sit next to our boss."

She nodded and walked to the passenger seat of the truck. A large, fat man with a greasy black ponytail was sitting in the driver's side, with the eyepatched Fujita sitting in the center. Cass opened the door, closing it gingerly when she felt the their eyes resting on the back of her head. She struggled to find enough room to sit comfortably, the man taking up more than half of the worn booth.

"This is Mr. Yama," the Fujita said as Cass fumbled for her seatbelt.

"H-hello," she muttered.

He studied her for a moment.

"Hmmph," he hummed.

He started the car and drove away from the hospital without another word.

They drove for about thirty minutes, making several twists and turns into the increasingly filthy underbelly of San Fransokyo. Rats chittered and scampered out of the way when the truck's headlights came by, crunching litter and splashing stale water as it drove down back alleys and deserted streets. They came to a stop in a neighborhood that was so run down there was no way it wasn't deserted. But the small, shining eyes of children's eyes reflecting the moonlight as they stared at the truck from the cracks in their walls and windows proved otherwise. _How can people live like this?_ she thought.

She could hear the back of the truck being opened, and two red-haired thugs opened the doors to the truck. Cass felt herself get shoved out of the vehicle by the Fujita when she didn't move fast enough. She tumbled out and barely managed to find her balance before she fell facefirst into a pile of dung on the pavement that looked and smelled suspiciously human. There was no time for her to be disgusted, however, as she was pulled by the arm to a sewage entrance. Yama fished a ring of keys from his tracksuit pocket and pulled the door aside, lifting the cover of the second door as he went. The dozen or so gangsters followed him, descending into the stinking cavern. Hesitant, she followed. The Fujita slammed the door behind her, sealing the place like a tomb and sending a chill into her bones.

_Maybe this wasn't the best idea_.

The sewers were dark, but didn't smell as bad as she had expected. Not many people lived in this area, so most of the waste that ended up in here would be runoff anyways, she realized. The sound of rushing water coming from their right and the scent of algae permeated the air, masking the sound of the posse's many footsteps. She could hear the sound of Baymax's vinyl covering sliding on the floor as he was dragged ahead of her. She frowned when she thought of how dirty he would get after being on a sewer floor. She would have to clean him later when she got the chance.

The walkway pointed downwards and narrowed as they descended, and Cass found herself having to watch her step for fear of falling into the water some ten feet below.

"How long is this going to take?" she whispered to the Fujita.

"A few more minutes. Quit your whining."

She was right. The sound of water slowly gave way to shouting and metallic clanking, and just when Cass thought that the tunnel couldn't get any more narrow, the sewer suddenly opened up into a cavernous area, lit with an improvised combination of LED and incandescent bulbs, creating a confusing blue-and-yellow atmosphere. The whole room was filled with tables, bot parts, bottles of what Cass was guessing was alcohol, and a lot more thugs. The sewer water flowed beneath this room, rushing off to the San Fransokyo Bay. Some people tossed their trash over the side into this water.

The crowded, noisy room fell silent once they spotted their leader. Their silence turned into greetings, and then cheers when they saw Baymax and Cass. Two other roller geishas came up to the Fujita and started circling around Cass.

"So...who are you?" the blonde one asked, swinging a hefty mace around on an impossibly thin chain.

"Uh, Cassandra. Cassandra Hamada."

"Suki told us you knew about Yokai. Is this true?" another one asked, looming over her in venomous green robes.

"Uh-huh. Totally."

She squinted at her. Cass felt herself shrink in front of these women, who stared at her with predatory faces. They broke their glares when Yama called for them, and they rolled away in a passive-aggressive way, if you could roller skate passive-aggressively. The Fujitas gathered around the table where he sat, looking at what appeared to be a map of San Fransokyo. She was left standing by herself, disconnected from the present as she stared at the bot parts.

_What did Hiro find so appealing about this? Half of the people here are drunk, and every last one probably has a criminal record a mile long. I don't want to judge them, but it's true that they've gotten nowhere in life and are living like animals. I don't know what I've gotten myself into._

"Hey, babe."

A slurring drawl made itself known right in her ear. She jumped away and looked at the drunk man greeting her. He was short, fat, and balding, wearing a gray, stained 'wife-beater' and holding a nearly-empty bottle of 하이트진로 소주*. The scent of the Korean beverage filled the space between them, making an uneasy feeling rise up in the pit of her stomach.

"Um..."

He smiled at her, revealing rotten breath and yellowed teeth that told her he hadn't brushed his teeth in years. Gross.

"You seein' anyone?"

_What do I say? What do I say? If I tell him no he's not gonna leave me alone if I say yes I'll be lying and he still probably won't go away, ugh-_

"I was talking to you, cutie. Are you hookin' up with some other dude or not?"

"I don't want to talk to you."

"Well too bad, 'cause I'm not givin' you a choice."

He stretched his arms ahead to embrace her. Her eyes darted around the cavern, hoping for someone to catch her eye and see what was going on. Yama and the Fujitas were busy discussing a map and bottles of brandy. The ones that caught her when she jumped out a window were arm wrestling. Baymax was still being patched back together by a reedy man with goggles that made him look like an insect. No one.

His filthy hands touched her shoulders. Stabs of pain run through her when he squeezes the torn muscles. More disgusted than afraid, Cass swatted his hands away, sending the bottle in his right hand into the rushing water below. It hurt, but it was worth it.

"That was my last drink! You bitch!"

"I don't care! Leave me alone!"

He reached out for her again, this time with violence rather than affection on his mind. Before she can react, a calloused hand sends itself at her cheek, the resulting _smack! _drawing no attention from the gangsters.

He draws back to strike again. She catches him by surprise when she brought her knee up into the tender spot below his ribcage. He splutters and chokes, and she curls her right hand, shaking with pain, into a fist and punches him right in his crooked nose, which looked like it had been broken several times before. Clearly, it wouldn't matter appearance-wise if it was broken again. The solid _crack! _it made silenced the room. The second one made when he hit the floor echoed. Blood had spurted everywhere, on the man's face and shirt, the grimy cement below, Cass's fist, everything. The man was groaning and clutching his face, nasally complaining about 'bitches' and 'sluts'.

Cass felt everyone's eyes tickle her skin. She hid the bloodied hand behind her back and gave an awkward grimace. She hadn't had this feeling, the one you get when you get caught by a teacher while you're in the middle of a fight, in a long time. That one had been lost in the mists of her high school career, where everyone had teased Jasmine for her strange face and slow speech, a result of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, something Cass had been able to avoid since her mother started her 'habit' a bit after she was born.

The blonde Fujita, the one Yama called Maya, skated up to Cass. Her face was stony. Every bit of courage Cass had fell away from her like a gust of wind to a tree full of long-dead leaves.

Would they kick her out of the group? She _needed_ to be here, it was the only way she could find some closure and actually be able to live without the double load of her missing nephews and the mask at the front of her mind. Her knees started wobbling and her stomach growled for something hot and greasy for the first time in a while as she cowered below the woman.

Before Maya could open her mouth, Cass burst out into a flood of apologies, almost falling to her knees.

"Look, I'm so sorry for doing this, he- he was drunk and he wouldn't leave me alone, I had to knock him out, please don't get mad at me! I- I have nothing left, ple-"

"Shut up."

She pointed to several thugs, who nodded and walked towards the three. _Oh no. It's over._

To her surprise, however, they reached for the unconscious man, dragging him back into the crowd, who parted and stared as they took him to the bug-eyed man in the corner.

"I-I'm not going?"

Maya shook her head. Cass heaved a sigh and sagged her shoulders, tension gone. She could stay. The woman's burn-red lips flicked up into an odd little smile when she saw Cass's relieved face.

"You did good. I'm surprised you stood up for yourself. Most citizens like you don't. Keep it up," she said, giving her a small nod.

The crowd gradually lost interest as Suki and Ono (the one in green) rolled up to them and dragged Cass away. They took her to a hatched door, twisting the dogs***** open and leading her inside.

The first thing Cass saw when she walked in was an enormous oak desk, occupied by Yama, who had retreated into this office sometime during her fight with that man. He was studying the map that he and the Fujitas had been looking at. The room was littered with bot parts, all in several states of repair and disrepair. A small fan blew air through the room in an attempt to dispel the stale, slightly pungent air. Yama looked up at Cass, raising an eyebrow when he sees the blood all over her hands and clothes. The four of them stood in front of his desk, waiting for him to speak.

"Suki here says you were Zero's aunt," he said.

"Zero?" she asked.

"Hiro," Suki said.

_Rude, _she thought.

"Yeah, I was."

"Hmm. That pest still owed me eighty thousand yen."

Her jaw clenched, but she said nothing. He shuffled some papers around, folding his arms and looking up at her intently.

"My colleagues have decided that you're trustworthy. You've seen Yokai?"

"Mm-hmm."

"Twice?"

"Yep."

"You Hamadas can't keep yourselves out of trouble, can't you?"

She gave a small smile and a shrug.

"You don't know the half of it."

"Tell me exactly where you first saw him," he said, changing the tone.

"I'm not too sure, a few blocks east of the Lucky Cat, I think Magnolia and 20th."

The memory was a little fuzzy as she squeezed her brain of the appearance of the warehouse. She didn't know if it was from the adrenaline of that moment, or what might be a concussion, but she just couldn't remember any specific details. She stuttered as she continued.

"The warehouse was about forty feet tall, tin roof, worn out, uh, big double doors that are chained shut-"

She was interrupted by Yama's impatient sigh.

"There's a million warehouses in San Fransokyo that look exactly like that. If you can't recall _any_ details, I'm gonna have to get rid of you."

The Fujitas tightened their grips on Cass.

"No! Don't do that! I know where it is, I'll show you!"

Yama leaned back in contemplation. The whirring of the fan, rushing of the water, and the muffled hum of conversation filled the silence. Finally, Yama pointed to his gangsters.

"Suki, Maya, Ono, follow her to the warehouse. Collect evidence. I won't let you back until you find any. And get that woman changed, she stinks like a slaughterhouse."

The Fujitas nodded and pulled her out of the office. Cass was now in front of a steel door. Ono pulled out a set of keys from a hidden pocket, sliding the door open effortlessly. She flicked the lights on.

The medium-sized room was filled with racks and racks of clothes, shelves and wardrobes stacked to the ceiling and wobbling dangerously when one of the Fujitas rolled by, lazily picking out items like turning the pages of a magazine. The glow in here was warmer than the one outside due to the two vanity mirrors on each side of the room. Cass stood quietly as she watched the trio buzz around the room, making comments on garments and holding them up to a mannequin that looked suspiciously like it was an actual stuffed human.

They returned a few minutes later with several armfuls of clothes.

"How about this one?" Maya asked, holding out a sequined black dress.

"Or this?" Ono waved a three-piece suit and tie.

"Uhh."

"Not your style?"

Maya and Ono put the outfits back and pulled out a bikini.

* * *

"You better not be leading us to the cops," Suki furiously whispered to Cass as they exited their car.

"I promise I'm not! I want to find this guy as much as you do."

They were in front of the warehouse, Cass wearing a pair of dress pants and a gray blouse that had two neat, circular spots missing near the chest that looked suspiciously like bullet holes. She led the trio to the locked door. The sand and the grit that the microbots had used to seal off the exit had crumbled away, leaving nothing but a pile of dust on both ends of the door. She pulled on them, pulling the doors apart, letting the Fujitas inside. She slipped in after them.

The room was dark and empty, just like the last time she had visited on her own. Cass stood, watching the women as they glanced around, looking for an enemy to fight, swinging their weapons around in a careless-looking manner. When nothing jumped out to attack, the Fujitas whipped out flashlights and started sweeping them around the area, opening containers, looking for false openings, and collecting suspicious-looking shreds of paper and chunks of metal. Occasionally the sound of a camera shutter would snap when they found something too big or small to take. They were nothing but darkened blurs and flashing beams of light as they turned every stone, working mechanically. Clanks echoed through the building.

The silence was broken when a rough shout from Suki, who was on the catwalk, brought everyone to attention. Cass ran towards her as fast as she could, hoping to god she wasn't hurt or hadn't been attacked.

Maya and Ono reached Suki before Cass did, huddling around her with interest.

"What is it?" Cass asked.

"Look what I found!" she said.

Her hand, shaking with excitement, steadied and let the light reveal a USB.

* * *

**A.N.: Ayy yo I'm back! Sorry for the long wait, and thanks for reading this story, and I hope you stick around to see the end of this disorganized, un-beta'd, mess of a fanfiction who can barely do Aunt Cass justice.**

***'하이트진로 소주' transaltes to 'Hite Jinro Soju'.**** Hite Jinro ****(****하이트진로)****,**** is the brand, 'Soju' (****소주)**** is the name of the drink. Soju is a Korean liquor similar to Russian vodka, made with rice/barley/tapioca instead of wheat/rye.**

***'dogs' is a nautical ****term for those round steering wheel-like handles that they have on hatched doors, like the ones that they have on submarine/boat doors or for any place that needs an air/water-tight space. **


	6. You Shoot Me Down

**A.N.: Thank you for sticking around long enough to get this far! I don't know why you guys like this, I'm literally making this up as I go along. Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

They brought the black plastic device back to Yama, who gave a thin, eerie smile.

"Good work, ladies. You're off for the night," he said, swiveling around in his chair and turning to the computer behind him.

"Let's go eat," Ono said, dragging Cass with her.

The commotion in the sewer was still going strong even past midnight. Cass was seated at the front of a long mahogany table peppered with scratches and slash marks. Suki and Ono sat on the other end and started talking about something Cass couldn't make out, pulling out the knives they hid in their clothes and twirled them around, menacingly pointing them at anyone who tried to cut into their conversation. A makeshift kitchen puffed out odorous steam and loud metallic clangs. Cooks with enormous knives and pots sliced and stirred away at something full of vegetables and meat. Maya rolled into the kitchen and brought back several plates and bowls balanced delicately on her arms. She slid them off with ease, the dishes and utensils sliding perfectly in place.

"Wow," Cass said, impressed with her accuracy.

"Worked as a waiter before I came here, nothing fancy. Go on, eat. You're gonna be here for a while," she said.

Cass looked at the food. Beef, carrots, taro roots, and bean sprouts were mixed with purple rice in a thick stew, and there were several small dishes of picked vegetables and Japanese delicacies to go with it. A glass of beer was to her right. There was a lot, and it was definitely appetizing, which was a bonus. She didn't expect these people to be very good cooks.

She looked at the beer, however, with an uneasy expression. Alcohol brought back a lot of things she didn't want to remember. She made eye contact with Maya and asked her,

"Hey, um, could you just get me a glass of water? I don't drink. Thanks."

"Sure."

She whisked the cup away and drained it in two gulps, letting out a satisfied sigh and wiping delicately at her lipsticked mouth. She rolled into the kitchen and brought back a glass of water like she had asked, several chunks of ice floating and clinking against the plastic.

"Thanks."

Cass took a spoonful of stew and put it in her mouth, and almost cried from how good it tasted.

"Ugh, this is _so_ freakin' good!" she exclaimed.

She practically shoveled bite after bite into her mouth, her stomach reviving and remembering the wonders of food after what had been forever. She didn't know how she had gone that long without wanting to eat.

"Slow down there, Hoover Lips, you're gonna make yourself sick," Maya said with a snort when she saw how quickly Cass was eating.

"Mmph," Cass gargled in reply.

She finished the first bowl in less than five minutes, sighing happily and setting down her spoon when the bowl had been scraped clean.

"Want another? You look like you haven't eaten in a while," Maya said.

"Yes, _please!_"

It took another fifteen minutes and two more bowls of stew for Cass's stomach to settle down.

"You alright there, Cassie?" Suki asked when she saw Cass, who was leaning back in her chair with a swollen stomach.

"Yeah, I'm just really full."

"Good to see you in a good mood."

"First time in a while."

"We've got something that'll make you feel even better," she said, pointing to her left.

A white, pudgy figure walked towards Cass, towering above the other thugs. The marks where Suki had punctured his vinyl covering were nearly invisible, repaired with a clear, sticky material. The short, bug-eyed man who fixed him was behind him, watching Baymax waddle along with curiosity.

"Baymax!" she shouted, turning in her chair and ignoring her aching back and stomach.

He waved in his goofy way and greeted her.

"Hello, Cass. How are you doing?"

"A lot better, Baymax. Are you okay?"

"I am a robot, I am always okay."

"Hmm, true. C'mon, give me a hug."

She got out of her chair to get closer, trying to hug him with her uninjured arm. He wrapped his squishy limbs around her, radiating a comforting warmth. Cass turned to the goggled man, smiling.

"Thank you so much for fixing him! I don't know what I'd do without him!"

"O-oh, it was nothing, you're welcome!" he said, bringing up his shoulders and blushing.

The man- no, the child really- couldn't have been much older than nineteen, which made Cass a little sad, seeing him so young, with so much potential and being down here, doing god-knows-what. _I wonder where he's from. Does he have parents? Do they worry about them? _Concern for the boy began to surface in her mind. She realized she couldn't do anything about that, though, so she just closed her eyes and hugged Baymax tighter, trying to forget her emotions for a time.

"How sweet," Suki said, not sarcastic for the first time.

The heat from Baymax and the satisfying weight in her stomach brought out an enormous, jaw-stretching yawn. The events of the day had finally caught up to her, and now her eyelids began to slide past her eyes like molasses on curved glass. The cacophony that had previously rattled her brain now faded to a muffled roar.

"You are yawning and your neurotransmitter levels have slowed. You are experiencing: fatigue. Sleeping for at least seven hours for the average adult can get rid of fatigue properly. I recommend you get some rest now."

"'M fine, Baymax. I've got to wait for Yama to talk to us. We're down here for a reason."

"What reason, exactly?" he asked.

"These people wanna find the man in the mask. I'm gonna help 'em," she slurred.

"Try to avoid hurting yourself."

"Ya need to sleep?" Suki asked.

"No, no, it's okay."

"Hmm. You do need to sleep. Go to the back. There's a room with some mats. We'll wake you up when Yama wants to talk."

"I'm staying the night? How long will I be here?" she asked, breaking her embrace with Baymax.

"You've got to be on call, Cassie."

"I don't remember locking up the cafe," she muttered.

"No one's gonna steal from the Lucky Cat, it's fine," Suki said, pushing her towards the back, Baymax following.

"What about Mochi? She's gonna miss me," she countered, the crowd parting around the three.

"We can get her tomorrow. But you're responsible for her, okay? I'm allergic and there's no way I'm going near that thing."

"'Kay."

They made it to the back. Suki unlocked the door and flicked on a light. The bare bulb dangled from the low ceiling, swinging when Baymax bumped into it. He looked at it, bumping it with his fingers. Cass slipped off her sneakers and tried to get comfortable on the mat. There weren't any blankets for Cass to cover herself with, and it was very worn and a little smelly. She couldn't complain, though, they were being very hospitable by even offering her a place to stay for the night.

"Sweet dreams," she said, slamming the door shut.

* * *

Her dreams weren't sweet. She stood alone on a cement plain. The ground was gray, the sky was gray, everything was confusingly blank. Figures approached her, traveling too fast to clearly see. Blurry faces whizzed past her mind's eye, hundreds of thousands of copies of everyone she's lost, murmuring and whining and crowding around her. She couldn't feel anyone touching her, though they reached out to paw and slap at her face. A crack of thunder roared in the distance, and the echoes shifted into shrieking sirens, the undulating pitches going father up and down than they did in the waking world. The blank landscape grew large, cement walls, joining together to make an enormous room, completely bare and uncomfortably warm.

The sirens grew closer. Shower heads sprouted from the ceiling and started sprinkling amber liquid. It was gasoline, she knew this without being able to smell. The crowd around her began shrieking and wiping at themselves as the gasoline popped them, sparking and crackling like small firecrackers. They dissipated, leaving only two standing, far away from her and yet in perfect detail. One was short, the other was tall. One was thin, the other strong.

She did not call out to her nephews. They did not call out to her. Their faces were completely blank, save for the small glimmer in their eyes that told her they knew she was there. She felt a small kernel of comfort in this disturbing dream as she watched them.

The firecrackers from the other people had still not died down, flicking and bouncing dangerously close to the puddles of gasoline. One sparking husk, the one that once looked like Tadashi's professor, finally ignited the fuel. She was afraid again.

The building began burning alarmingly fast, the heat scorching her face and watering her eyes. Tadashi and Hiro were even closer to the fire, right at its edge. Through the flames she could see Hiro grab Tadashi's arm. She couldn't hear him through the sirens and the roar of the flames. Tadashi wrenched himself from Hiro's grasp, and he followed his brother, squinting at the heat as they ran into the center of the inferno. The sirens rang all the while, but this time, they did not get nearer, she could hear them circling around the large building but not entering.

All of a sudden, they were small children again, the same age they were on the day they came to live with her. Soft faces fresh as the full moon, round mushroom eyes withering in the heat. She could not open her mouth. She wanted them to come out, to stop letting their tears boil away like water on a pan, leaving salty tracks halfway down their cheeks. She did not want to watch Tadashi wrap his arms around his brother, she did not want to hear Hiro's tiny voice screaming,

"We have to get out! Tadashi!"

The legs beneath her wouldn't let her move, and she could only watch through her tears, watch her little family burn to ash, small people becoming even smaller as they collapsed and curled together in a last attempt to ward off the heat.

It was only when the ceiling cracked and crumbled on the three did Cass wake up.

* * *

She found that her tears were real in both realms, running into her hair and onto the mat. She coughed out the mucus that had built up in her throat and rubbed the brine off her face. Her sprained muscles ached when she sat up and stretched, her hitching breath and coughs ripping away at her back each time. When her vision cleared and her pain died down enough for her to think, she could recognize the faint silhouette of Baymax glowing in the dark, the gentle light he emitted from his stomach pulsing gently.

"You are in distress. Breathe along to the light to prevent hyperventilation and choking."

His soft voice pulled her closer to the surface of reality. She breathed in and out, trying to slow her pace. The room was quiet. The already-fuzzy scenes of the dream stopped swirling around in her head. _You're gonna be okay, Cass. It wasn't real. There wasn't anything you could do. _She comforted herself, rubbing her shoulders with her hands and rocking slightly. When her hiccuping had died down enough for her to talk, she asked Baymax the time.

"It is currently: 5:39 A.M. You have gotten approximately four hours of sleep. I recommend you sleep for at least three more hours for proper amounts of rest and a short recovery from your previous injuries."

"'S okay, Baymax. I don't think I'll be able to sleep after that. Could you turn on the light for me?"

He stopped hovering over her and shuffled towards the small switch. The bulb popped and crackled before illuminating the room with its sickly yellow light. Cass bowed her head and delicately combed her fingers through her rat's nest of hair, trying to get it into some semblance of order and avoid exerting her arms. It didn't do anything. The multitude of cowlicks on her head were completely invincible. This frustrating trait was a Hamada emblem. It was very obvious in Hiro, who rarely bothered to brush his hair or even use conditioner, resulting in his tribble-like hair. Tadashi, who seemed to have neat, smooth hair, hadn't been lucky enough to completely dodge this bullet and had to gel his hair every morning with extra-strength mousse.

Cass got up and smoothed out her clothes, slipping on her shoes and opening the door. Her steps were shaky even after her crying had stopped, and she could feel her joints pop as she walked.

The cavern was silent save for the rushing of the water below and the sound of snoring from several thugs who had fallen asleep in a drunken haze. The area was much larger than it had first appeared without all the people inside it. The tables were empty, the floor was covered with litter, and the whole place stunk of algae and vomit. Cass stepped out, hesitant, and looked around for Suki, Maya, and Ono, who were nowhere to be seen. She approached Yama's office, which was Cass' best bet at finding them. She knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" Yama asked.

She could hear his muffled, gruff voice echo in the small room.

"Uh, it's me, Cass. Hamada. And Baymax. I'm looking for Suki and the others."

The door swung open. Ono swept a slender hand, welcoming her in an exaggerated motion. She raised her eyebrow at her puffy, red face, but didn't say anything about it. The other Fujitas were lounging like tigers on plush leather seats. They stared at her as she walked in. Yama was behind his desk, tapping away at a KreiTech laptop, the small, blank USB connected to it and flashing.

"Have a seat," Yama said, gesturing to the empty stool near a shriveled jade plant.

She sat down, eyeing the Fujita's much more comfortable chairs. Yama turned to retrieve some papers from a printer near the back. He tossed them onto the desk, spreading them out for all to see. Suki was the first to reach them, whistling in astonishment when she saw the sheer amount of information, flipping through them and reading fervently.

"We've hit the motherlode, ladies!" she said.

"Hey, show us, Suki!" Ono whined.

She reached for the papers, Suki staying just out of the other woman's reach. Yama snorted and returned to his laptop.

"Don't be a bully!" she whined.

"That's what a Fujita does best, Ono."

Maya rolled her eyes as they grappled for the papers and snuck behind Suki's chair, snatching the papers away for herself, smirking like a cat.

"No fair!" they both shouted.

Her thin little smile only widened when she saw what was on the papers, and passed them to Cass when she was done. She couldn't understand a word. Diagrams, graphs, some news articles, she could only understand about half the words on the pages. _Is this what they teach in college nowadays? How did Tadashi manage all this?_

She hoped no one noticed her confusion as she handed the papers back to Yama, who straightened them out and cleared his throat.

"I hope all of you understand the implications of this," he said.

"Yes, sir," the Fujitas chanted.

"What about you, Hamada?" he asked.

"Uhh..."

"It's alright, we don't expect you to understand," Suki said with a condescending squint.

"Heh, yeah, I have no idea what half of this stuff means."

"Yokai's gonna do something. Something big. Look at this," Suki said, pointing out a phrase on a text-heavy sheet.

* * *

_I'm starting this journal to record my path to vengeance. It wastes time, but it's worth it. I don't want to forget a moment of the most important time of my life. This is where I can find myself, and find my dearest daughter. I hope she doesn't hate me for what I'm going to do for her. _

_It has been exactly 38 days since the fire. I have perfected control over the Microbots. Nearly all the parts I need are here. I just need to find the Interdimensional Calibrator, the original one. I believe it's on Hakken* Island. I'll go out in three days to find it. I need to make more Microbots to start construction. Then I can begin. __The people who were responsible for Project Silent Sparrow will pay. They will never see the light of day. Or the dark of night, for that matter. _

* * *

There was no signature or initials, no date or location. Cass stared at the paper blankly.

She knew where Hakken Island was, a few miles away from the San Fransokyo Delta, not far from Alcatraz, in a part of the sea where it was always foggy and cold, inhospitable. No one who set foot on that island never stayed for long because of the damp that seeped into their bones and the eerie silence that penetrated the whole island. _What's on this island? What's an Interdimensional Calibrator? Who's Yokai's daughter?_

"What's Project Silent Sparrow?" she asked.

"We've been talking. We think it might have to do with this bird, the one you saw at the docks and on the wall," Suki said.

She pulled out the drawing Cass had made on the night she was in the hospital from her pocket, looking sloppier in the harsh light than when she first scribbled it hastily in a dark room with a broken arm and a concussion.

"He-he said that he's building something. Something with an Interdimensional Calibrator. Do you know what that is?"

"We're not too sure, but this part he mentions gives us a lot of information. Project Silent Sparrow has something to do with space, or even time travel of some sort. Portals or something like that. This part would probably keep something balanced, to keep a traveler from getting stuck in one place. I think. I'm a bot-fighter, not an inventor," Ono said.

"Yokai is heading for Hakken Island today. Remember that warehouse? When he was making all those microbots? That was the first of the three days he mentioned in his little diary," Maya said.

Cass could remember it as clear as day, even through the forgetful haze that often rattled her brain after the night she crashed. Yokai manipulated the microbots perfectly, thousands of tendrils shooting out from the mass like the wisps of a 幽霊(Yurei)*. How long did it take for him to learn how to use them like that?

"That was him making more microbots for the journey," she continued.

Suki, Ono, and Yama nodded in agreement. Everything was slowly clicking together, terrifying and inevitable like an iceberg. She clasped her hands together so no one could see that they were shaking and clammy with a cold sweat.

"And he was taking those parts out of the sea to put them together before adding the final part, the Interdimensional Calibrator. He's gonna start his attack sometime this evening, or tomorrow morning at the latest," she concluded.

This wasn't just a distraction for Cass's grief anymore. This was big. This was _really_ big. Lives might be at stake, if what Yokai's journal implied was true. If it involved death, interdimensional travel, creepy islands, and even creepier people, it's probably a huge deal.

Cass stood up from her stool, knocking it over and ignoring the pain that shot through her body.

"We-we've got to do something. We need to get there before he does, destroy that thing, that Calibrator-whatever. Let's go now, we've got to catch him!"

The four stared at her with unreadable expressions. Cass shrunk into herself when she felt their piercing gazes.

"Wait a minute. We?" Yama said, finally breaking the silence.

"Yes. We. We're getting a boat, getting something sharp and deadly, and going to Hakken Island to catch Yokai and stop whatever crazy thing he's planning."

They all burst out into coarse laughter. Cass's face turned pink with shame.

"We can handle this ourselves. Look at you, Cassie. You're forty-five and single, with a concussion and a sprained arm and back. You grew up in the uptown neighborhood. You've never seen a bot-fight, let alone an actual get-down. Do you think you can do anything past annoying this guy? Go home. We're done with you," Suki said, waving her off.

Her shame turned into indignation and anger.

"I've seen plenty myself. You said I could get him," she growled.

"Anything to get information," she said, inspecting her nails, "and punching a drunk-ass in the face doesn't count as a fight."

"Get this woman out of my sight," Yama said.

Ono dragged the door open. Maya and Suki grabbed her shoulders, grinning and pinching tighter when she squeaked in pain. Baymax had been waiting outside this whole time, turning to speak to the Fujitas as Cass was dragged past him. He tried to follow, recommending that the Fujitas stop grabbing Cass's shoulder like that when Ono held him back. He only struggled weakly against the woman as his programming prevented him from hurting anyone, even if that person was not the nicest of them all.

"Hey! Wait! What about Baymax!?" she shouted above the roar of the water, turning her head backwards to look at him.

"We don't need idiots. We need robots," Suki said, pushing her harder.

She was guided past the sleeping gangsters and to the foot of the stairway. She was take up the winding stairs, away from the people that had welcomed her at first. Cass had hoped that she had found friends in the Fujitas, but it was clear that they didn't see her as anything but a tool. The air grew less dank, and the sound of the rushing water grew quieter as the streams of water grew smaller. They reached the sewer entrance. Maya opened the door, and Suki shoved her out. The chain-link fence surrounding the door was opened, and she gaped silently at the two women who were peeking out of the hole like groundhogs.

"Hope you find your way home. See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" Suki said.

The door slammed shut. The night air was cold and dry, the streets completely deserted. Cass stared at the closed door for what felt like forever. They had her robot. They had her information. They had her _trust_.

"Aaugh!"

She screamed and stomped her foot on the door, kneeling down to pound on the sealed entrance. There was no response.

"Fuck!"

Her bitter curses echoed through the desolated neighborhood. They became weaker when her anger shifted to devastation. She didn't know what to do. She had listened and done whatever they wanted her to do, invested all her time and dedication in that short period of time when she thought she could work together. She had thrown every bit of herself since she had nothing to lose and yet she still felt like she had been cheated of something. That one night of hope had dried up and fell to the bottom half of the hourglass. It was over. She turned to head home.

_Knew I shouldn't have dealt with those people. How am I supposed to get Baymax back? He's all I got left of Tadashi. Oh, Tadashi, I'm so sorry I lost Baymax. This is what happens when an aunt doesn't have any nephews to pester, I'm afraid._

_All I got out of it was a free truck ride and 'missing' signs all over town. Shoot, they must be looking for me! Oh no, how do I explain this to them? "I'm sorry I haven't been around to visit, Mrs. Matsuda, I was too busy punching drunkards in the face and getting kicked out of a gang!" Like that's going to go down well! And what about Mochi? I hope he won't be too mad at me for being gone for so long!_

_I don't know how to stop Yokai now. Yama said that his people would go and get him, but can I trust any of them after they did something like that? No! But at least I know where Yokai's headed and what he's going to do. _

She stopped her slow steps and looked around, asking for an invisible stranger to confirm that that was indeed the truth.

_At least I know where Yokai's headed and what he's going to do. If I know where he is, and if I know that they're following him..._

A smile spread across her lips.

_I can hit two birds with one stone._

* * *

**A.N.: ****Poor Cass! Sadly, this was the only way I could get the plot to shift to keep from writing myself into a literary corner. Don't worry, she can kick Yokai's butt without any help from the Fujitas. Though she'll probably have Yama's gang beat up Yokai first, and then she'll report them to the police for gang activity and have both Yokai and Yama arrested. Ha!**

**Say, do you think I write Cass and everyone else in character? I've watched the movie a couple times, but I'm just worried I'm not capturing their characters properly. I know that most of them, like Cass and Yama, don't get a lot of screen time, and the Fujitas don't show up at all, but I just want to make sure. I basically write the Fujitas like a trio of evil!Gogo Tomagos. Revenge doesn't seem like an Aunt Cass thing, but since we've never seen her demonstrate anger/depression/strong negative emotions over an extended period of time, this story takes a lot of liberties. Her 'dorky mom' exterior kind of subdues itself and falls away when she means business, however, and so I took it and ran with it as far as I possibly could. I just want to see her go crazy like Hiro did in that scene where Yokai was finally unmasked.**

**Is there anything I'm missing? Plot holes, typos, ooc? Is my story going a little slow? Please tell me, thank you! Thanks for reading this mess, have a wonderful day!**

**Oh, and before I forget about translations:**

***Hakken= discovery**

***Yurei= a Japanese ghost, usually female, with pale white skin and black hair, really creepy.**

**P.S.: This is the longest chapter I've written for this fic, hooray, I feel like I've actually accomplished something in life!**


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